This invention relates to wireless and cordless communications systems.
Wireless communication systems have experienced phenomenal growth in recent years. Wireless systems offer users unprecedented convenience and efficiency in communication. As users proliferate, the available bandwidth for use becomes more precious. Multiple access systems are allowing more users to share the finite radio spectrum. In addition, new services are being introduced, many of which have high bandwidth demands. As demand increases, more efficient networks become necessary. Networks are also limited by switching capabilities. Since every call is routed through a base station and its switches, networks are limited by base station switching capacity. Also, since base stations can connect to wireline systems, capacity can be limited by the availability of lines. Furthermore, wireless systems are often more expensive than wired systems; the cost of services and equipment can be prohibitive. What is needed are more efficient, cost-effective systems for wireless communications.
New wireless networks are dynamically generated, reconfigured and recombined based on demand and signal quality. The base stations and/or subscriber units are programmed to recognize when system performance will be enhanced by generating, reconfiguring, or recombining networks. In one aspect of the invention, a base station has the capacity to send and/or receive on plural networks. Two base stations can share a dedicated network, allowing each station to use the other""s capacity. Dedicated networks can be set up by human action or automatically by algorithms. In the dedicated-network embodiment, for example, if one base station has an open external line and the other base station has a call request it cannot support, the call request can be directed to the open line by way of the dedicated network. A first networked base station can be connected to high-capacity lines and other networked base stations not directly connected to those lines can access them through the first networked base station. In another alternative, subscriber units form direct networks, freeing up base station resources.